Deep pitching staff aids Calvin Christian baseball team

GRANDVILLE -- Calvin Christian expects to continue its tradition of excellence in baseball with four returning seniors from last season's O-K Silver championship team.

"We graduated 10 seniors last spring," said fourth-year coach Andrew Bishop, "but we have a strong junior class that adds some great talent to our returning seniors, and I'm optimistic that we'll again compete for the top of the conference."

Taking up leadership roles for the Squires (22-10 overall, 11-1 in the conference) include all-conference senior pitcher Josh DeYoung, whose 7-2 record and 1.79 ERA is likely to land him at the top of the rotation.

Joining him is senior infielder/pitcher Brad Visser and senior outfielder/pitcher Cole Boender, both of whom gained mound experience against some tough non-conference opponents.

Senior first baseman Josh Miller is expected to use his hard-hitting bat to bump up a deceptive .250 average a season ago. Junior infielder Danny Carrasco is one of the up-and-comers who brings a .333 average and .500 OBP to Calvin's lineup in 2013.

"We have a lot of depth in our pitching rotation," said Bishop, "and that's going to be very helpful with another tough schedule ahead of us.

"On the flip side, our team chemistry is still a question mark, given the kids we lost, and we won't know how everyone jells until we get outside and work the things we can't work in the gym."